Ellen Foster: Mother. She who can take the place of all others, but no others can ever take her place

Ellen Foster has a very strong relationship with her mother. Her mother is extremely sick. Ellen takes care of her and does everything within her ability to protect her from her father. What confuses me is why Ellen's mother didn't put her up for adoption by now. She knows that Ellen's father verbally abuses both of them. She stays at the hospital weeks at a time and when she does, there is no one at home to stop anything that Ellen's father could do to Ellen. Ellen's mother is trying to protect her by keeping Ellen close to herself, but by doing so she is putting her in great danger.

The connection between Ellen Foster and the book Of Mice and Men is shocking. Ellen and her mother share a relationship that is similar to George and Lennie's. Ellen doesn't need this family to survive. She would probably lead a much better life if she was adopted but she doesn't want to leave her mother. She just can't live without her.

Similarly, George takes care of Lennie even though he continuously states that he would be better off if Lennie wasn't with him. George acts like Lennie's father. He scolds Lennie when he does something wrong. Lennie also listens to everything that George says and idolizes him. Even though, George could have walked away whenever he wanted to do, he didn't. He needed Lennie to help him through this difficult time.

These two relationships are almost the same but are dealing with different situations. From far away, it looks like one person is entirely dependent on the other, but when you look closer, you see that they both need each other to stay sane. They need the other person just as much as the other person needs them. "Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light" -Hellen Keller.